Software Development RFP Template

A well-written Request for Proposal is the single most effective tool for getting accurate, comparable quotes from software development vendors. Without one, you will get proposals that answer different questions, making it nearly impossible to evaluate them fairly — and dramatically increasing your chances of choosing the wrong partner.

This template is designed for Hong Kong businesses commissioning custom software development. It includes sections that most generic RFP templates miss: PDPO compliance requirements, bilingual UI considerations, local payment integrations, and vendor evaluation criteria tuned for the Hong Kong market. Copy it, customize it for your project, and send it to at least three vendors.

For guidance on how much your project should cost, see our guide to app development costs in Hong Kong. For advice on evaluating the vendors who respond, read our guide to choosing a tech partner in Hong Kong.

Section 1: Company Background

Give vendors enough context to understand your business without writing your autobiography. Two to three paragraphs covering:

• Company name, industry, and size — e.g., "ABC Trading Ltd is a Hong Kong-based import/export company with 45 employees and annual revenue of approximately HK$80M."
• Current technology landscape — what systems do you use today? ERP, CRM, spreadsheets, paper? What works, what does not? This helps vendors understand the integration environment.
• Why you are doing this project now — what triggered the need? A growth bottleneck, a compliance requirement, a manual process that no longer scales? Vendors who understand your motivation will write better proposals.

Section 2: Project Overview

This is the heart of your RFP. Be specific enough that vendors can estimate accurately, but avoid dictating the technical solution — that is what you are hiring them for.

• Project objectives: What does success look like? Express this in business terms, not technical ones. "Reduce order processing time from 4 hours to 30 minutes" is better than "Build a web application with a React frontend."
• Scope: What is in scope and, just as importantly, what is out of scope? If you know you need a customer portal but not a mobile app, say so. Ambiguity in scope is the number one cause of budget overruns.
• Success criteria: How will you measure whether the project delivered value? Define 3-5 measurable KPIs: processing time, error rate, user adoption rate, cost savings. These become the acceptance criteria for the final delivery.

Section 3: Functional Requirements

List the features and capabilities the system must have. Organize them by priority: must-have (launch blockers), should-have (important but not critical for launch), and nice-to-have (future phases).

• Core features: Describe each feature in terms of what the user needs to do, not how it should be built. "A customer can submit a service request with photos and receive a confirmation via WhatsApp" is a good requirement.
• User roles: Who will use the system? Define each role and what they can do. Common roles: end user/customer, internal staff, administrator, super admin. Different roles usually mean different interfaces and different permission levels.
• Integrations: List every system the new software needs to connect to: accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks), payment gateways (Stripe HK, PayMe, FPS, Octopus), communication platforms (WhatsApp Business API, email), CRM, ERP, or any internal APIs. Integration complexity is one of the biggest cost drivers — be thorough here.
• Data migration: If you have existing data that needs to be moved into the new system, specify the volume, format, and quality. "15,000 customer records in a MySQL database" is very different from "15,000 customer records across 47 Excel files with inconsistent formatting."

Section 4: Non-Functional Requirements

These are the requirements that are not about features but about how the system performs, scales, and complies. They are easy to overlook and expensive to retrofit.

• Performance: Expected page load times (under 3 seconds is standard), concurrent user capacity, and any specific throughput requirements (e.g., "must process 500 transactions per hour during peak").
• Security: Data encryption requirements (at rest and in transit), authentication standards (SSO, MFA), role-based access control, audit logging, and vulnerability management expectations.
• PDPO compliance: If the system handles personal data of Hong Kong residents — and it almost certainly will — you must comply with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. Require vendors to explain how they will handle data collection consent, data access requests, data retention and deletion, cross-border data transfers, and breach notification procedures. This is a legal requirement, not a suggestion.
• Language support: Hong Kong businesses typically need bilingual interfaces in English and Traditional Chinese. Specify whether the UI, admin panel, notifications, and generated documents (invoices, reports, receipts) all need to support both languages. Also specify if Simplified Chinese is needed for Mainland Chinese users.
• Availability and uptime: What is your expected uptime requirement? 99.9% (8.7 hours downtime per year) is standard for business applications. Specify acceptable maintenance windows — typically Saturday nights or Sunday mornings in Hong Kong.

Section 5: Design Requirements

Clarify your design expectations so vendors can allocate the right resources and avoid mismatched expectations.

• Brand guidelines: Provide your brand colors, fonts, logo files, and any existing style guides. If you do not have brand guidelines, say so — the vendor may need to include basic branding work in their scope.
• UX expectations: Are you expecting wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, interactive prototypes, or all three? How many rounds of design revision are included? Specify whether user testing is expected as part of the design phase.
• Accessibility: Specify WCAG compliance level (2.1 AA is the standard for most business applications). At minimum, ensure the application is usable with screen readers, keyboard navigable, and has sufficient color contrast. This is especially important for government-funded projects in Hong Kong.
• Responsive design: State which devices and screen sizes must be supported. "Desktop and mobile web" is the minimum. Specify if native mobile apps (iOS, Android) are needed — this significantly impacts cost and timeline.

Section 6: Timeline and Budget

Being upfront about your timeline and budget saves everyone time. Vendors who cannot deliver within your constraints will self-select out, and honest vendors will tell you if your expectations are unrealistic.

• Expected timeline: Specify your ideal launch date and any hard deadlines (regulatory compliance dates, seasonal business peaks, investor milestones). Note whether a phased approach is acceptable — launching core features first and adding more later.
• Budget range: Share a realistic budget range, not an exact number. This helps vendors propose solutions that fit your financial reality. If you are unsure what is realistic, our app development cost guide provides Hong Kong-specific benchmarks.
• Payment milestones: State your preferred payment structure. Common models in Hong Kong: 30/30/30/10 (deposit, midpoint, delivery, post-launch), monthly retainer, or milestone-based. Avoid paying more than 30% upfront — this protects you if the engagement does not work out.
• Post-launch support: Specify how long you expect the vendor to support the system after launch (typically 3-6 months of warranty), what the expected response time for critical bugs is, and whether you need an ongoing maintenance agreement.

Section 7: Vendor Requirements

Help vendors understand what you are looking for in a partner, not just a product builder.

• Experience: Require examples of similar projects — ideally in the same industry or with similar technical complexity. Ask for live URLs you can visit, not just screenshots. Portfolio claims without verifiable references are meaningless.
• Team composition: Ask vendors to identify the specific people who will work on your project, their roles, and their relevant experience. You are hiring a team, not a company name. The quality of the individuals assigned to your project matters more than the vendor's overall reputation.
• References: Request 2-3 client references for projects of similar scope. Call them. Ask about communication quality, deadline adherence, how the vendor handled problems, and whether they would hire them again.
• NDA and IP ownership: State that you expect to sign a mutual NDA before sharing detailed business information. Require that all code, designs, and intellectual property created during the engagement are owned by you — 100%, from day one. This is standard practice and any vendor who resists this should be a red flag.
• Local presence: For Hong Kong projects, state whether you require the vendor to have a local office or team members in Hong Kong. Same-timezone collaboration, face-to-face workshops, and cultural familiarity with the Hong Kong market are significant advantages — see our guide to choosing a tech partner for more on this.

Section 8: Evaluation Criteria

Tell vendors how you will evaluate their proposals. This encourages them to focus their effort on what matters to you and makes your own evaluation process more objective.

• Technical approach (30%): Is the proposed architecture sound? Does the tech stack match the project needs? Is the solution scalable? Is the vendor recommending proven technologies or unproven experiments?
• Relevant experience (25%): Has the vendor built similar systems? Do their references check out? Does the assigned team have the right skills?
• Cost and value (20%): Is the price reasonable for the scope? Are there hidden costs? Is the payment structure fair? Does the proposal include post-launch support?
• Timeline and methodology (15%): Is the proposed timeline realistic? Does the vendor use agile sprints with regular demos? How do they handle scope changes and delays?
• Communication and culture (10%): Was the proposal well-written and responsive to your specific needs, or was it a generic template? Did the vendor ask smart questions before submitting? The proposal itself is a preview of what working with them will be like.

Section 9: Submission Instructions

Make the logistics crystal clear so no proposals are lost or late.

• Deadline: Specify date and time (Hong Kong time, HKT/UTC+8). Allow at least 2-3 weeks for vendors to prepare a thoughtful response — rushing this helps nobody.
• Format: PDF proposals submitted via email. Specify a maximum page count (15-20 pages is reasonable) to prevent vendors from burying you in filler content.
• Questions: Provide a contact email for vendor questions and a deadline for submitting questions (typically one week before the proposal deadline). Publish answers to all vendors to maintain a fair process.
• Presentations: State whether shortlisted vendors will be invited to present their proposals in person or via video call, and the expected timeline for the evaluation process.

Tips for Getting Better Proposals

A few practical tips from the vendor side of the table — having reviewed hundreds of RFPs from Hong Kong businesses:

• Be honest about your budget. Vendors who know your range can propose solutions that fit. Vendors guessing at your budget either over-engineer or under-deliver.
• Send to 3-5 vendors, not 15. Casting too wide a net means you cannot give each proposal the attention it deserves, and good vendors may decline if they suspect a mass-mail process.
• Include your payment integration requirements. Hong Kong's payment landscape is unique: FPS, PayMe, Octopus, Alipay HK, WeChat Pay, and Stripe all have different integration patterns and costs. Specifying these upfront avoids surprises later.
• Specify bilingual requirements early. A bilingual Traditional Chinese and English interface is not just a translation layer — it affects UI layout, character handling, search indexing, and content management. Vendors need to account for this in their architecture, not bolt it on later.

Need help refining your RFP or evaluating proposals? We are happy to review your draft RFP and provide feedback — even if you do not include us in the bidding process. Book a free consultation and bring your draft along.